White Texas Man Suspected in ‘Knockout’ Attack Against Black Man

While the so-called knockout game has become known nationally for its racially tinged attacks against whites by blacks, a case in Texas presents a new twist on the themed attacks that some have dubbed an urban myth.

Federal authorities have charged a white Texas man in connection with a hate crime for targeting a 79-year-black man in a vicious street attack, the Washington Times reports.

The Justice Department filed a criminal complaint against 27-year-old Conrad Alvin Barrett on Tuesday and arrested him on Thursday, the report shows. The unnamed elderly man’s jaw was reportedly broken during an attack on Nov. 24.

“Suspected crimes of this nature will simply not be tolerated,” said Kenneth Magidson, the U.S. attorney for the Southern District of Texas, according to the Washington Times. “Evidence of hate crimes will be vigorously investigated and prosecuted with the assistance of all our partners to the fullest extent of the law.”

The suspect reportedly recorded himself on his cellphone during the attack and laughed as he ran away, saying, “Knockout,” the report shows.

“The plan is to see if I were to hit a black person, would this be nationally televised?” Barrett says in the video, according to the authorities, the Washington Times reports.

The “knockout game,” in which someone randomly punches an unsuspecting victim on the street, has garnered national attention across the nation in recent months. But at the height of the tension in late November, the New York Times reported that law-enforcement officials were questioning the veracity of the motivation behind the attacks, most of which involved black youths attacking whites, sparking racial tensions.

“We’re trying to determine whether or not this [the ‘knockout game’] is a real phenomenon,” New York City police Commissioner Raymond Kelly said, according to the New York Times. “I mean, yes, something like this can happen. But we would like to have people come forward and give us any information they have.”